The Train to the Beach

The Tampa and Gulf Coast Railway came here in 1914 starting a tourist boom period that lasted into the 1920s.

Excursionists from Tampa crowded on the T&G for a day at the beach or perhaps a stay at the Indian Beach Hotel. Indian Beach (now Indian Rocks Beach) became known as “Tampa’s playground.”

The site where you are standing was along a boardwalk that ran from the train stop to the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Train service to Indian Beach gradually declined as automobiles became more popular and roads improved in the Roaring ’20s.